Well If The UN Says So…
link U.N.s Ban says Egypt transition should start now | Reuters.
How interesting that no less than the head of the United Nations, Ban Ki-Moon, should declare that the power shift in Egypt should begin sooner than later. Hosni Mubarak, the long time autocrat of that nation has been under pressure to leave office not just from Egyptians but apparently from all world nations. Just over a year ago, a similar show of popular uprising and dissent was directed against the repressive regime in Iran, yet strangely, the U.N. didn’t see fit to comment on the need for change in that nation. As we may recall, the military was brought in to quell the voice of those brave enough to push for changes in that regime. Even more amusing are the recent missives from the Iranian foreign ministry praising the protests in Egypt!
It’s the same tired pattern of liberal mouthpieces calling for restraint, tolerance and compassion, but only for select groups of people and certainly not for themselves. It was amusing that during the Iranian ‘uprising’, as the demonstrators were being beaten, there were calls for ‘restraint’ on both sides. As if. I guess one side restrains from beating and the other side restrains from bleeding.
If the U.N. were the institution of freedom and fairness which it laughably purports to be, why doesn’t it regularly chastise those regimes that legitimize the enslavement of women, the suppression of free speech and the intolerance of other religions and promotes active belligerence with the rest of the world. By coincidence Iran comes to mind.
If the U.N. were so concerned about the rights and freedoms of the population in Egypt, why don’t they propose some kind of provisional authority to help in the transition? Left on their own and without any credible leader, the population is vulnerable to radical opportunists who would step in and take control during a power vacuum. If that happens, kiss any thoughts of freedom and tolerance goodbye.
In that case, they’ll go back to pleading for tolerance and restraint on both sides.
You gotta feel bad for Mubarak. He told Christiane Amanpour that “he’s fed up with being president and would like to leave office now, but cannot, he says, for fear that the country would sink into chaos.”
This is the same line that the bank CEOs were using to force Paulson and Bush to bail them out in 2008.
At least he learned from the Americans.